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The Situation Room

Shooting at Catholic School in Minneapolis. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2025 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:02]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And we are following the breaking news, a shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. Sources are telling us that the shooter is dead. We don't know how many victims are dead or injured this hour. Officials will give an update around 1130 Eastern time. We're going to, of course, bring that to you live.

And someone who lives right near that school just spoke to our affiliate KARE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BIENEMANN, NEIGHBOR: Well, we live about two blocks from here. I was on a call. All the windows of our home were open. I know what gunfire sounds like. And I could tell.

I was shocked. I said, there's no way that that could be gunfire. There was so much of it. So it was sporadic. So it was a semiautomatic. It seemed like a rifle. It certainly didn't sound like a handgun. And so he must have reloaded several times, for sure.

QUESTION: Do you remember about how many gunshots?

BIENEMANN: I will just say maybe 30 to 50 to somewhere in that area.

QUESTION: Do you recall about how long the...

(CROSSTALK)

BIENEMANN: Fire went on?

QUESTION: Yes.

BIENEMANN: For, I would say, several minutes, I mean, three minutes or four, I mean, which is a long time for live gunfire. I mean, that's a long time. You can rap off a lot of shots.

So, there again, I'm just estimating, you know. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That is just horrific. And to think that around the time the shooting happened, the kids preschool through eighth grade were attending mass, 8:15 a.m.

I want to start with CNN correspondent Isabel Rosales with some new information you have, Isabel.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Pam.

And you mentioned that the suspected shooter was dead. That's according to our colleagues Mark Morales, Hannah Rabinowitz and John Miller. Well, they now have new information confirmed from two separate law enforcement officials that have been briefed on this matter that that was self-inflicted.

So the shooter killed him or herself. There's no words yet, obviously, as we're watching these images of these little kids, look at that, of this K-8 school being taken away by their parents. You question the extent of the injuries, if anyone has been killed here. There's no word on that yet.

We're hoping to get more information about that as soon as possible from officials. We have placed those phone calls out there. Minneapolis P.D., meanwhile, tell us that a reunification zone has been set up at this Catholic school. They're asking families that have children here at the school to go there.

And then just to reset for our audience, this -- the shooting has happened in South Minneapolis at the Annunciation School -- Church -- excuse me -- which is a Catholic school.

And as you mentioned, Pam, based on the Web site of the school there would have been an all-school mass happening at around the time of the shooting. Monday was just their first day of school for these students.

BROWN: Just so awful. And we hope to learn more details from officials there on the ground about any possible injuries or deaths. We know the shooter -- for the shooter's part, is dead. It was a self- inflicted wound, according to sources.

I want to bring in CNN's Josh Campbell.

Josh, how are you seeing this? Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, can you repeat last, Pam? Yes, please.

BROWN: Yes, I was just recapping that, according to law enforcement sources, that the shooter is dead and that it was a self-inflicted wound. How are you seeing this?

CAMPBELL: Yes. No, that's right. And pardon the audio issue there. I mean, this is something that obviously for the community to hear that there's no longer an active threat is something that is welcome, but, of course, they're dealing with the potential tragedy here as we wait to see what the number of victims might be here.

The information that we got from authorities about the suspect being down and now no longer to be interviewed will make their work a bit more difficult, because they can't glean firsthand from this individual why they came here to do this.

But, that said, in these investigations authorities will have all hands on deck. They bring in various different agencies with different expertise to try to understand exactly what happened. One thing that was interesting from the eyewitness that we heard from our affiliate there just a short time ago, he was talking about the amount of time that had elapsed from when he had heard a gunfire.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- and, as a former law enforcement officer, I could tell you this is no fault of eyewitnesses, but time does go into somewhat of a reduced or accelerated speed during a situation where adrenaline is pumping. And so that will be something that we will have to wait to hear from authorities what exactly transpired.

Was this something that did indeed take several minutes in order to resolve, as the person was continuing to fire? That will be something that we -- that we would want to know.

[11:05:03]

And it's not unusual in these cases as well that, once authorities arrive, if you're in a school or a church, a place with various different rooms, that a suspect could then secrete themselves in and hide, there could have been a period here -- we don't know -- that there was some type of exchange of gunfire as police tried to get to the sound of the shots fired and locate this individual.

Which, if it did turn out that this had lasted several minutes, that could be one explanation, authorities trying to get to exactly where this person was, so a lot of questions here. But, of course, the first thing right now for authorities is obviously the care of the victims, which we understand at this point, with several minutes now passing, that they are getting -- they would be getting they would be getting medical care if we have victims.

But there's a lot of investigation ahead as well.

BROWN: Right. And what we see right now is just one vantage point of the perimeter around the school. We see parents walking with kids right around there just, of course, processing all the shock of this.

I want to go to the WCCO reporter Caroline Cummings, who is right outside that school.

CAROLINE CUMMINGS, WCCO REPORTER: That's right, Maria. That's right, Maria. I believe we were just -- you guys back in the studio we're just talking about the reunification of families and children here at this school. I just saw walk past us a family with their two young boys. And the mother was just overcome with emotion.

And I felt a pain in my heart seeing her like that, because she seemed to have her babies with her, but I'm sure her heart is with all of those parents who might not know where their children are, whose children are injured, like we heard from our CBS News partners, 20 injured at this point.

So it's a really emotional day out here. I'm right in front of the entrance to the school. There is people with looks of just shock and horror on their face witnessing this unfold in real time and knowing it happened in their community and in their backyard. Literally, there are residential homes that are across the street from this school down Garfield Avenue, where I'm standing right now.

So it's been really remarkable to be here and see this all unfold, and still a very active scene and a lot of law enforcement here as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're actually hearing from President...

BROWN: Yes, our hearts are just out to all those parents, those kids, the faculty members who were there during this.

Again, this apparently happened and around the time that there was an all-school mass at 8:15 there in Minneapolis this morning. School had just started on Monday. These are preschoolers, young kids up to eighth grade.

Evan Perez, I want to bring you in, because we're now learning from these law enforcement sources that the shooter died. It was a self- inflicted wound. What do you make of that?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not unusual, because, unfortunately, you and I have covered so many of these tragedies over the years, Pamela.

And one of the things that the FBI has done is studied the source of psychology and just the phenomenon that we have live through uniquely in this country really compared to other countries like this. And what they find repeatedly is that you have these shooters who take advantage of the fact that there's nobody there to challenge them and the fact that they can shoot for however long they can, sometimes until they run out of bullets.

And then, before police can even intervene, the shooting is over. We have seen this over and over, over the years. And, look, I mean, as someone who went to Catholic school all my life and I went -- this is very -- this is very common, right? The first couple of days of school, you have an all-school mass, where everybody gathers at this school.

This would have been obviously one of the happiest times of the school year. Everybody's back. Everybody's talking about their summer. And then this happens. We don't know whether this person is associated with the school, but obviously this is -- this would have been well- known in that community that there's an all-school mass.

BROWN: It's on the Web site, on the school Web site.

PEREZ: Yes, it's on the Web site, right.

So it is not surprising that someone, maybe some even not associated with the school, would know that this is happening.

BROWN: Yes.

And oftentimes we see in these school shootings, particularly with religious institutions, it's a former student.

PEREZ: Right.

BROWN: We saw that at the Covenant School in Nashville back in 2023, where the former student Audrey Hale killed three 9-year-olds, three adults.

PEREZ: Yes.

BROWN: We're waiting to learn more about this suspect or shooter at this 11:30 a.m. Eastern time press conference that we're expecting from officials there on the ground.

It was really disturbing to hear what the man we heard from the affiliate said about how long it went on.

PEREZ: How long, right.

BROWN: He said there were several minutes. Now, we don't know if that was just from the shooter or if law enforcement had arrived by then or the circumstances around that.

PEREZ: Yes.

[11:10:00]

BROWN: But he said it sounded like the gun was reloaded several times. It seemed like a rifle, he said, a semiautomatic rifle, and it went on for several minutes.

PEREZ: Right.

And, look, that's not uncommon as well. These things can shoot dozens of bullets in just one trigger pull, right? And so what happens in this case is sometimes they have enough time to reload. It's one of the most horrific things for students to be sitting there.

BROWN: Oh. Awful.

PEREZ: You saw this in Uvalde. You see this in Newtown repeatedly, where a shooter has enough time to reload and the horrific nature of this is for little kids to be facing this. BROWN: Yes, it's just too much to think about.

PEREZ: Yes, absolutely.

BROWN: You just -- little kids in mass, presumably, we know that it was around the same time...

PEREZ: Sitting, yes.

BROWN: ... sitting there, sort of a captive audience.

PEREZ: Right.

BROWN: I want to go to Alayna Treene at the White House, because, Alayna, we know Trump administration officials are weighing in, and President Trump, for his part, also responding to this.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Pamela.

We're now hearing from top Justice Department officials, the FBI director and the president himself, who have been briefed on the shooting, sharing, of course, little information right now as we're gathering more to see what is actually happening on the ground.

But I want to read for you what we heard from the president himself. He said -- quote -- "I have been fully briefed on the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved."

I can tell you, Pamela, I actually -- right as this was unfolding, I was in the White House and I saw several officials running downstairs to the Situation Room. So I'm sure they're working on gathering more information right now.

I also just want to point you to what we heard from the attorney general and FBI Director Kash Patel. Attorney General Pam Bondi had said that federal agents are on the scene of this horrific shooting and said that her prayers are with everyone involved in this tragedy. "Our team will provide updates as we have receive them." Similarly, we're hearing from Kash Patel that FBI agents are on the scene and that they ask everyone to keep potential victims, civilians, and law enforcement in harm's way in their prayers.

All to say, very little information right now, but we do know that the president has been briefed on this. He is going to be continuing to get updates today throughout. Standing by to see if he has another statement soon on this, but I imagine they will be kind of in the Situation Room and getting more of this as all of this unfolds.

BROWN: All right, Alayna, thanks so much.

Stand by, everyone. We're going to continue to monitor the situation, and we hope to hear from officials soon on the ground in Minneapolis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:17:24]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROWN: Welcome back.

We are covering this breaking news. We have some video here out of Minneapolis this morning of the Annunciation Church, where there was allegedly a school shooting for officials there on the ground at the school around the time that there was a mass happening, an all-school mass.

And we see parents leaving with kids just processing the shock of all this. School had just started on Monday. It's back to school, and you just can imagine the excitement and the hope that back to school entails, getting the uniforms and the school supplies, and then just a couple days in, a shooting.

We know that the shooter is dead. It was a self-inflicted -- from law enforcement officials. We don't know more about any victims there at that school shooting.

I want to go to Andy McCabe for more context as we await more details from officials there on the ground at a press conference we're expecting at 11:30.

Andy, sadly, we know that certain times of the year there is a higher risk of a school shooting, and back to school is one of those times of the year that brings that risk. And now we're learning about this school shooting there in Minneapolis, Andy.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, it just adds another layer of kind of horror to these events.

But, as you know, you were mentioning the shooting in Tennessee at the Covenant School in 2023. I think there are -- there were some aspects of that shooting that I think reinforced that.

Ultimately, local police determined that the shooter was motivated in kind of choosing that target not because he was after a specific person, but rather because he thought that the religious nature of the community would make it an easier target and the fact that the victims would be young would make -- would increase the notoriety that he was likely to get for staging that attack, which ultimately the local law enforcement determined that was his motivation for state -- for conducting that attack.

So, obviously, we don't know. We don't have any kind of details about this situation along those lines, but hopefully we will get them at the press conference. I should say, Pam, it's a good sign that we're supposed to get a press conference soon.

That, to me, is kind of one of the indicators of a level of professionalism and competence and organization around the response. So, to get law enforcement leaders out there behind the microphone giving us what information they can -- it'll never be everything we'd like to know, but giving us what they can and taking some questions from the reporters is an indication that they really know what they're doing.

[11:20:15]

It's not easy for them to do this. It kind of pulls them off target momentarily to do this.

BROWN: Yes.

MCCABE: But it's super important for the community and hope -- sends out a sign that they are in charge, that they're handling it professionally, and that we will learn more as they go.

BROWN: It is really important, because we have -- I know, Andy, the two of us have seen other shootings where that hasn't happened. And many, many hours go by, and that vacuum is filled with misinformation. So it is a good sign that we're going to be hearing from them soon, hopefully, assuming that the plans don't change.

I want to bring Isabel Rosales in, because you have some new information right, Isabel?

ROSALES: Right.

We have been questioning on the extent of injuries here, if anyone has been killed. And we're starting to get the first pieces of information about the extent of injuries here, according to the Associated Press, that a Minneapolis hospital says it is treating five children injured from the shooting. So this is our first inclination about injuries, five children being treated at a Minneapolis hospital.

A piece of a caveat here, this is the account just from one hospital. There are other hospitals in the area. And in fact CNN did hear back from a public information officer from a Level I trauma center at Hennepin Healthcare, who says: "We are dealing with an emergency situation at this time."

But our first understanding in terms of injuries coming again from the Associated Press, one Minneapolis hospital saying they are treating five children, as we all are hoping to hear more information here in this 11:30 press conference from the city of Minneapolis.

All of this happening as we're watching live images -- rather, images from this morning from our affiliate WCCO, where you can see a very active scene. And it is also at this school, Annunciation School, where a reunification center has been set up, the police department asking families to go there to pick up their children

These, Pam, heartbreaking images of parents holding on to their little kids. I mean, this is a preschool through eighth grade school, just these kids so excited, celebrating the first day of school just on Monday. I was going through the Facebook page for the school and looking at the pictures that they uploaded of these kids...

BROWN: Yes. ROSALES: ... with the -- these big smiles celebrating this new chapter. And now they're having to deal with this.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Yes. I was doing the same as you, Isabel, those precious kids. I can't stop thinking about them and the parents, the faculty there, as we are awaiting more details about the victims.

But, as you reported, Isabel, at least one hospital is treating five children for injuries. Another says that they are dealing with an emergency, so a lot more to learn.

I want to bring in Darrin Porcher, a former NYPD lieutenant.

What questions are you asking right now, Darrin?

DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE LIEUTENANT: Well, at this stage, we have surface-level information, which is understandable.

And you have to understand there's a difference as it relates to technology in a Catholic school or religious school of education in comparison to that of a public school. A public school is going to have a more robust security platform, more cameras, things to that effect, whereas a religious institution of learning is going to have less.

That doesn't mean that it's substandard in the religious institution of learning, but they're going to have less. So one of the reasons why I mentioned that is, when we look through the camera system...

BROWN: Hey, Darrin, I'm going to interrupt you, because we're going to check in with our affiliate WCCO that is there in Minneapolis and listen in on what they're saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you look at these hands on people's faces, it's scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got a statement from Children's Minnesota.

"Children's Minnesota is aware of the recent tragic shooting in Minneapolis. Our teams are trained to respond in times of crisis and are fully prepared to care for impacted children. Currently, five children are admitted to our hospital for care. We will not share more details to respect the privacy of our patients and families."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

And we know, unfortunately, the hospitals have to do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But they go through drills to prepare for something exactly like this, whether it's a mass shooting, whether it's a school shooting. Children's Hospital knows exactly what they're doing because they have had to practice this before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That's the unfortunate part. They have had to practice for situations like this before.

You can imagine the scene of the school right now. I can imagine. As a parent, I know what's going through my chest right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But imagine being in that parking lot looking for your loved one, just trying to make sure that they are OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talk about you know what families go through. This is what we're talking about, moments like that and just hoping that everyone's safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what everyone's going to be doing.

[11:25:00]

BROWN: You see the hugs. You see the tears from parents there picking up their children from the Annunciation Church school, where this shooting apparently happened in those morning hours during a mass, an all-school mass at that school around the same time of the shooting.

We know from one hospital five children are being treated. That's just one hospital, though. There are multiple. Another one says that they are dealing with an emergency. So we hope to learn more soon.

I want to bring you in, Evan, because we have covered far too many school shootings and just shootings in general in our jobs.

PEREZ: Right.

BROWN: And you were just talking with the law enforcement official recently, noting that we haven't had a mass shooting recently.

And this law enforcement official said, well, back to school hasn't happened yet. And sure enough.

PEREZ: Right. And that, sadly, is -- I mean, in the United States, which we go through these so much more often than other countries that are rich countries like this.

But we have this problem that has persisted over the years. And so law enforcement has kind of gotten used to, OK, what -- the rhythm of what -- of how to deal with these things. And one of the things that was mentioned to me was the fact that back to school is a higher-risk time.

Obviously, the holidays, you have an increased risk back -- at the end of the school year. That's when the Uvalde school shooting, that's when Parkland happened, I believe, if I remember correctly. So there are certain times where people who are in local law enforcement certainly are concerned about the increased risk.

And, in this case, we don't know yet whether this shooter had any association with the school, whether it was a former student, whether this person just was in the community and was aware of this -- of back to school at this school.

But one of the things that really does come to mind is one of the horrific parts of this is picking a school where you have preschool to eighth graders. You're talking about little bodies. When a shooting like this happens, I mean, just to talk about some of the horrific parts of this, if you remember in Uvalde, they had -- parents had to go provide DNA so that they could help identify some of the children, right?

That's what we're facing here, depending on how the severity of the injuries that have been received here. So, again, that's where, this community, that's -- unfortunately, that's what they're dealing with at this moment. This is what they're having to set up and try to figure out how to reunite not only the parents with the children, but also for the children perhaps that may have been injured how to go about that whole process as well.

And this is going to reverberate. These children are going to remember this for the rest of their lives.

BROWN: We think about that, the ones who made it out and just how it's going to traumatize them for the rest of their lives.

PEREZ: Right, and the fact that they have witnessed this, right, even if they just heard the gunshots. I mean, they will never be the same again.

BROWN: Yes.

PEREZ: And, again, for law enforcement, they know when to expect these things. That's where we have gotten in this country.

BROWN: Isn't that so sad?

PEREZ: And the FBI has spent so much time studying these shooters. A lot of them are in it for the notoriety, as we saw in the Tennessee one that we were talking about just a little while ago.

A lot of them are inspired by this event. So there is someone right now who's watching the coverage of this and is probably thinking about doing something like this in the near future because of the notoriety that it entails.

BROWN: And the one in Tennessee in 2023, in that case, Audrey Hale, the shooter, former student, had researched and planned that for a long time.

PEREZ: And, typically, that's what you find. I mean, the FBI is going to go in and they're going to try to get the computer of this person. They're going to look at their social media. They're going to look at any apps that they have been using. And they're going to be able to put together a picture of this person

and where they have been and what perhaps drove their desire to carry something horrific like this out.

BROWN: I want to go to the ground to Arit John, who has just arrived on the scene.

Arit, what are you seeing?

ARIT JOHN, CNN REPORTER: Well, right now, I'm seeing several roads are blocked. There's dozens of police cars. There's a large law enforcement presence, obviously a large media presence.

I'm also seeing a few dozen people from the community, people who -- I mean, this is a suburban neighborhood, tree-lined street, single- family homes. And we're seeing people from the neighborhood coming out, gathering near the press.

Somebody brought water and juice for people. So we're just sort of seeing people rallying around, just waiting for a press conference that's going to be happening any minute now.

BROWN: All right, Arit, keep us posted. I know you're just arriving there and getting the lay of the land.

We're going to take a quick break, and we will be right back.

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